Jonny Gomes Returns To America After Brief Stint Playing In Japan Because He Couldn’t Get Past Language Barrier

There are a lot of differences between the United States and Japan that would take some getting used to. The food. The way they cram into subway cars like sardines. The chicks with bushes so thick they queef dandruff. But for former Royals outfielder Jonny Gomes, it was the language barrier that led to him parting ways with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and returning stateside.

“I hated not being able to talk to all my teammates because of the language,” Gomes told FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal after recently leaving the Rakuten Golden Eagles by mutual consent to return to the U.S. “I would just sit in front of my locker solo and sit in the dugout and couldn’t talk.

“The earthquake also was scary — if something happened, I couldn’t communicate. Everything else was awesome. Great team, city, food, all of the above.”

Gomes got some major cred on this site for giving an impassioned speech while waving Old Glory onstage during the Royals’ 2015 World Series celebration — stealing the show despite only appearing in 12 games all season (definitely a TFM). But even though Gomes only put cleat to grass a handful of times, the free agent says he’s invaluable to teams in other ways. I agree. The dude is a proven morale booster. Think of him like a dugout hype man (a huge reason the language barrier would be difficult for him to deal with).

“I also know I can bring way more to a team than my numbers, and I don’t think that’s blowing smoke with my past.”